Even From Space, Near-Record Ice On Great Lakes Is Chilling

They're down there somewhere: The Great Lakes as seen from space on Wednesday. Lake Ontario, which has less ice than the others, is at the lower right. A bit of open water can be seen in Lake Superior, at the upper left.

The extent of the ice cover varies by lake, of course. NOAA's numbers:

-- Lake Erie, 95.8 percent.

-- Lake Huron, 95.5 percent.

-- Lake Superior, 94.6 percent.

-- Lake Michigan, 82.3 percent.

-- Lake Ontario, 43.4 percent.

(NOAA also has data for Lake St. Clair, which is between lakes Huron and Erie. It is 99.3 percent ice-covered.)

Lake Erie, as we've said before, typically freezes first because it's the shallowest of the lakes. Lake Ontario tends to lag behind the others in ice cover because it's farther south (except for Lake Erie and part of Lake Michigan), has some strong water flowing in from the Niagara River and is relatively deep. The lakes' average and maximum depths, according to the Environmental Protection Agency:

-- Lake Erie, 62 feet / 210 feet.

-- Lake Huron, 195 feet / 750 feet.

-- Lake Michigan, 279 feet / 925 feet.

-- Lake Ontario, 283 feet / 802 feet.

-- Lake Superior, 483 feet / 1,332 feet.

But enough with the statistics. Let's let the pictures tell the story.